Why I Am Not A Christian

[Father Time]

How wonderful it would be if Christians who want to be more Christ-like prayed to Jesus to ask that their speech be pleasing to God.

How wonderful it would be if non-Christians would contain the arrogance that makes them feel qualified to tell Christians how to practice a faith they don't share. Do I come in here and tell YOU how to be a Buddhist, and expect you to live up to my standards of how that belief system is practiced?

What you really want isn't for my speech to be pleasing to God, Sky. What you want is for my speech to be pleasing to YOU. Which begs the question of "who the heck are you that I should care?"

It ought not matter who the listener is, Cecille. If the listener/reader tells you your language offends, causes pain or feels degrading then you should rock back on your heels and ask "Am I deliberately trying to steal someone else's Dignity?" And clearly on this thread, the answer is "yes". You repeatedly refer to me as an atheist when you know that is not true. You attack others as "ignorant", essentially claiming that no one else's life experience or spirituality could have value next to yours.

If this were how I viewed christians in general I WOULD be advocating for an end to such a vile religion. But in fact I find you to be a bit of aberation. Most christians do not attack other people with this sort of viciousness and deliberate distortion.

If you cannot see the value in treating other people respectfully, Cecille, you have not mastered chrisitianity 101. If you think I am wrong, ask your priest or pastor -- anyone with a modicum of religious instruction would know, this sort of deliberate offensiveness is WRONG.

$50 says that Cec will
a. blow a fuse
b. try desperately to explain how a non-Christian couldn't possibly know more about Christianity than any Christian (not even one who attended a Christian school such as yourself, the moment you turn away from the faith all your knowledge of it is lost).

 

[teapartysamurai]

teapartysamurai, anyone who believes they are God is mentally ill. The existence of evil in the world has fascinated every philospher since Man crawled out of the Primordial Ooze. I think NOT asking questions is a betrayal of the Divine every one of us carries within -- we are gifted with a consciousness, and we are expected to USE it.

I am bumfuddled by people like you who seem to believe that learning, knowledge and amareness are somehow anti-God. What is the value you perceive in ignorance?

Here is another example.

Making up an argument that I did not make.

Where did I say you cannot question??????

But you didn't question in the op. You MADE CONCLUSIONS and stated that you can closed your MIND to the possibility of God, because God wasn't doing things your way.

That's not questioning. That's closing your mind to questions.

You don't think I question suffering in this world?

The difference between you and me is, I haven't closed my mind off to the answers simply because I may not LIKE the answer.

Don't pretend otherwise. The title of your op and your entire op made it plain. You have closed your mind off to the existence of God, BECAUSE things aren't how you think they should be.

That's not questioning, that's narrowing and closing your mind.

Nice try.

Looks to me like the op questions intimidate the hell out of you so compensation is sought in accusing Maddy of being closed minded. Free advice: if you read an op beyond your capabilities pretend you didn't even see it and move on. That's basically what you've done here with the exception of posting whiny accusations.

If it "intimidated" me as you claim, I wouldn't have answered it.

What a lame attempt at an attack.

Who is answering beyond their capabilities.

 

[CurveLight]

There are many reasons why I am not a Christian. One of them is because I am thoroughly repulsed by the masochistic overtones of the Crucifixion story and the whole glorification of martyrdom that goes with it. The cross has to be one of the most creepy religious symbols ever.

Either you don't know the essence and definition of masochism or you are purposefully distorting the history of the Cross. Which is it?

 

[CurveLight]

Here is another example.

Making up an argument that I did not make.

Where did I say you cannot question??????

But you didn't question in the op. You MADE CONCLUSIONS and stated that you can closed your MIND to the possibility of God, because God wasn't doing things your way.

That's not questioning. That's closing your mind to questions.

You don't think I question suffering in this world?

The difference between you and me is, I haven't closed my mind off to the answers simply because I may not LIKE the answer.

Don't pretend otherwise. The title of your op and your entire op made it plain. You have closed your mind off to the existence of God, BECAUSE things aren't how you think they should be.

That's not questioning, that's narrowing and closing your mind.

Nice try.

Looks to me like the op questions intimidate the hell out of you so compensation is sought in accusing Maddy of being closed minded. Free advice: if you read an op beyond your capabilities pretend you didn't even see it and move on. That's basically what you've done here with the exception of posting whiny accusations.

If it "intimidated" me as you claim, I wouldn't have answered it.

What a lame attempt at an attack.

Who is answering beyond their capabilities.

What the fuck is wrong with you? All you did was accuse the op author of creating a deceptive op underscored by hate you jackass soap boxing punk.

 

[Father Time]

If you keep this up some government genius bureaucrat is going to find a way to make people get an operator's license for trolling like we have driver's licenses for cars.

trolling?

I am not trolling

I am asking reasonable questions that you are obviously either too stupid to understand or afraid to answer

is your god going to burn billions of people in hell forever is they have sex outside of marriage?
or get divorced?
or are gay?
or are atheist?

and how do you manage to reconcile your belief that slavery is wrong while god insists that slavery is ok?

So, you think there should be no consequences for rejecting God?

If by reject you mean not believe, then yes.

God doesn't send anyone to hell.

Yes he does. He makes the rules and the punishments.

If you reject God's greatest Gift, God didn't send you to hell, you sent yourself.

No God was the one who decided punishment not the sinner. When a judge sentences someone to jail we say it was the judge who sent them to jail not the criminal.

 

[teapartysamurai]

teapartysamurai wrote:

Nice try but stating, "I am not a Christian" is saying you have closed your mind off to possible answers to your questions.

And I am "evil" because I question YOU??????

You really do think you're God, don't you? The arrogance gets worse by the moment.

Honey, I haven't misidentified you at all. Sure you believe in a "god." A little image of YOU that makes you feel comfortable, like all people that claim to be agnostic/atheist/I believe in god/gia/etc etc etc.

You can argue otherwise, but you let the truth slip out when you claimed I was "eeeeeeeeeeeeeevil" for simply questioning YOU.

Your the god in your mind, whether you directly recognize it or not.

How is stating "I Am Not A Christian" closing my mind to the possibility that God exists, teapartysamurai? All that says is I do not share YOUR religion, YOUR beliefs. Rather than dialogue about them and the reasons each of us holds ours, you merely wave a magic wand and declare everyone else's beliefs are defective?

It is not evil to question me. It is evil to attempt to distort what I have said, to try to degrade me or to harrass me (and anyone else on USMB who is not christian) because you are insecure and want or need to feel superior. This thread was begun to start a dialogue...why not tell us why you ARE a christian?

I do think God can be found in most Huamns. Not all. I think some have acted in ways that extinquish that Light forever....but I am sure he is as present in you as he is in me.

Let's see a bit of the Light you say you've got, teapartysamurai.

Because I don't run around, stating, I am not a "you fill in the blank" because I have all these questions.

If you have questions, it means you don't have the answers. But if you state categorically, because of these questions, you aren't "fill in the blank" it's because you have drawn a conclusion, aka closed your mind off to possible conclusions, regardless of the answers.

And I didn't start this op. Why must I defend myself? I didn't start a thread on why I am a Christian. YOU started a thread on why you are NOT a Christian?

That's another way of saying you are losing the argument and you want to find a way to put me on the defensive.

Nice try

And who's distorting? Shall I remind YOU of your OWN WORDS?

1. If God is Omnipotent, then why is there evil in the world? I have heard every single justification for this, from free will to the "evil is necessary so goodness an show up by contrast" one. None of them wash with me.

2. If Christ is the Messiah, then why didn't humanity enjoy a better life after he was here? There were still wars, and poverty, and suffering. I don't think most Christians understand the Jewish concept of a "Messiah". That person is supposed to SAVE us. I'm not feeling the saving bit so much.

Now, I don't care how you slice it. That still boils down to, there can't be a god, (like the God in the Bible) because he isn't doing things my way.

And because there is evil, blah blah blah, that God in the Bible can't be true, even though that same Bible told you, there would be evil.

So, who's distorting here?

And how can you feel saved if you don't accept Christ? DUH! That would be like you are drowning, and you don't feel saved, because you won't take the life vest someone keeps trying to offer you.

Of course you don't feel saved, you are rejecting salvation. Don't blame God for that. That's your own actions.

 

[CurveLight]

teapartysamurai wrote:

1. You need to define "Evil" before I can offer theories.

2. Are you asking for an explanation of evil or are you looking for a solution to evil?

Let's just begin by focusing on the first question. I would assume we can all agree that a man like Stalin or Pol Pot was Evil. But Evil is much more commonplace; we have all indulged in it.

Here's a little story of one of my Evil acts:

I am intolerant in the extreme of abuse -- of the elderly, of women, of kidlets, etc. One day I went to the grocery and saw a young woman lift her kidlet, about two, off the floor with his arm, using a twirling motion that swept his feet out from under him. You might not know -- and likely she didn't -- that this move, which usually causes no pain or injury, is a great way to tear a kidlet's rotator cuff. Such injuries can leave a kidlet permanently disabled.

So I yelled at the woman -- even though she was obviously poor, stressed out and overwhelmed. And she dropped the kidlet, so there was that. But whose needs did I serve? If I had spoken calmly and compassionately to her, she most likely would have listened. She might have learned to never do that again (as opposed to never doing it again in public). She might have felt validated, human and supported....but MY Pride came first. I was wealthy and obviously powerful, and I knew I could frighten her, so I did.

Scaring a young mom on the edge...now there's an accomplishment to be proud of, huh?

So here's my question: why is it that when God designed Mankind, he afflicted us with Pride and the other Evils we nuture in our breasts? Why didn't he fill us with enough Divinity so that we would not have these impulses to tear one another down, or apart?

By the way, teapartsamurai, I greatly appreciate your willingness to open yourself up to the dialogue. I was quite harsh to you and most would have replied angrilly and defensively; I am sorry I wasn't kinder.

I don't see a definition of Evil. What is your definition? To ask why it exists without supplying a working definition is moot.

 

[Sky Dancer]

What does evil have to do with the topic of why I am not a christian?

 

[CurveLight]

False. Hebrews 8 states a new covenant was needed with a new people because the old one was no longer being upheld. It does not state why laws were changed. In fact it states "I will put my laws into their mind" in the new covenant. It does not say why such laws would change. You may want to know your own bible a bit better.

Where did I say you can't question the bible? I didn't. Now what were you saying about fabricating arguments? Oopsies!

Did you read the same thing as me and everyone else? It appeared to say quite a bit more. Don't get me wrong, Mad can ramble on for a while, but my interpretation extended beyond your one-liner.

Perhaps you should try again.

You asked why the laws were changed and Heb 8 states why. You may claim it is insufficient to your taste but don't add more layers of dishonesty to you bag of crybaby tears.

"For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said..."
Hebrews 8 - PassageLookup - New International Version - BibleGateway.com

CurveLight, it sounds as if you have taken the position that God changed the rules because he found a new set Humans would be more inclined to follow. Seems pretty obvious we have not done so; has God given us defective rules twice then?

The defect seems to be in the design of Humans, not the design of the rules. How do you account for this?

The narrative in Heb 8 has nothing to do with new people but a new covenant.

Keep in mind this is not God speaking directly becauase these are translations of mediations between people and their quest for comprehension. I think a better viewpoint of Heb 8 is people saying:

"Hey, those old laws are bullshit! Who the fuck can live up to them with any hope of adherence even with the deepest convictions of sincerity?"

Jesus' entire ministry was about changing those bullshit rules so Heb. 8 is a rough summary.

 

[CurveLight]

What does evil have to do with the topic of why I am not a christian?

Maddy asked why evil exists so I pointed out the question sans a def of evil is moot.

 

[CurveLight]

If you keep this up some government genius bureaucrat is going to find a way to make people get an operator's license for trolling like we have driver's licenses for cars.

trolling?

I am not trolling

I am asking reasonable questions that you are obviously either too stupid to understand or afraid to answer

is your god going to burn billions of people in hell forever is they have sex outside of marriage?
or get divorced?
or are gay?
or are atheist?

and how do you manage to reconcile your belief that slavery is wrong while god insists that slavery is ok?

So, you think there should be no consequences for rejecting God?

God doesn't send anyone to hell. God, so wanted to save the world from that, that he sent his only Son to stop it.

If you reject God's greatest Gift, God didn't send you to hell, you sent yourself.

Take responsibility for your actions and stop blaming God.

As for slavery. I have the same answer for you that Jesus gave the Pharisees regarding divorce.

"For the hardness of your hearts God, permitted this, but from the beginning it was not so."

Remember, the abolition movement began as a CHRISTIAN movement.

Besides, why are you worried about slavery of more than 150 years ago, if you are content to be a slave to sin, today?

If God was so for slavery, he wouldn't have sent his Son to deliver us from the worst slavery of all.

Maddy has repeatedly stated a belief that God exists so you are just proving yourself to be a fuxxing bitch whiny ass troll.

 

[Sky Dancer]

What does evil have to do with the topic of why I am not a christian?

Maddy asked why evil exists so I pointed out the question sans a def of evil is moot.

Evil exists because human beings are fallible.

 

[Madeline]

teapartysamurai wrote:

1. You need to define "Evil" before I can offer theories.

2. Are you asking for an explanation of evil or are you looking for a solution to evil?

Let's just begin by focusing on the first question. I would assume we can all agree that a man like Stalin or Pol Pot was Evil. But Evil is much more commonplace; we have all indulged in it.

Here's a little story of one of my Evil acts:

I am intolerant in the extreme of abuse -- of the elderly, of women, of kidlets, etc. One day I went to the grocery and saw a young woman lift her kidlet, about two, off the floor with his arm, using a twirling motion that swept his feet out from under him. You might not know -- and likely she didn't -- that this move, which usually causes no pain or injury, is a great way to tear a kidlet's rotator cuff. Such injuries can leave a kidlet permanently disabled.

So I yelled at the woman -- even though she was obviously poor, stressed out and overwhelmed. And she dropped the kidlet, so there was that. But whose needs did I serve? If I had spoken calmly and compassionately to her, she most likely would have listened. She might have learned to never do that again (as opposed to never doing it again in public). She might have felt validated, human and supported....but MY Pride came first. I was wealthy and obviously powerful, and I knew I could frighten her, so I did.

Scaring a young mom on the edge...now there's an accomplishment to be proud of, huh?

So here's my question: why is it that when God designed Mankind, he afflicted us with Pride and the other Evils we nuture in our breasts? Why didn't he fill us with enough Divinity so that we would not have these impulses to tear one another down, or apart?

By the way, teapartsamurai, I greatly appreciate your willingness to open yourself up to the dialogue. I was quite harsh to you and most would have replied angrilly and defensively; I am sorry I wasn't kinder.

I don't see a definition of Evil. What is your definition? To ask why it exists without supplying a working definition is moot.

CurveLight, what the hell is vague here? I said that Evil is commonplace, we all indulge in it and I gave an example of an occasion when I did.

Good grief, do we really disagree about whether abusing young, poor Moms in order to self-agrandize is Evil?

 

[Madeline]

You're 100% correct, teapartysamurai. I long ago concluded that whatever I may come to know about God would not be learned from reading the Bible, the Cathecism or any other self-contained Recipe for Religion. I think we are supposed to read whatever we may find instructive and digest it, ponder on it and draw our own conclusions.

I think we are supposed to think.

IMO, most all we need to know about Good and Evil can be found in Albert Camus' novel "The Plague". Do you see me beating anyone over the head with a copy of it? No? That's because I have respect for the myriad paths any one of us may take to quizzle on the Big Questions.

But you must quiz and puzzle and ponder to get my respect. Advocating blind allegiance to a faith you have never examined does not elevate you in my eyes. It seems to me that only a coward would do such a thing.

"The unexamined life is not worth living." Spoken by Socrates.

That is why I asked you why are you a christian? What led you to conclude this body of beliefs best suited your needs for spiritual growth? The replies you could have given were presumably very sincere and honest...but "why should I have to defend myself" ought not to have been one of them.

Aren't you joyous you have this faith? Why be ashamed of how you came by it then?

 

[Madeline]

What does evil have to do with the topic of why I am not a christian?

Maddy asked why evil exists so I pointed out the question sans a def of evil is moot.

Evil exists because human beings are fallible.

Well, agreed. But Sky Dancer, if God designed Mankind and he is infallible, why even bother creating us with such a defect?

I can see only one value to Evil -- it gives Mankind something to test themselves on, to stand up against and suffer to defeat. It creates a need among us for one another; but surely this could have been done some other way? We could have needed one another just for the shared joy of it, or to learn more about being Human.

 

[rikules]

If you keep this up some government genius bureaucrat is going to find a way to make people get an operator's license for trolling like we have driver's licenses for cars.

trolling?

I am not trolling

I am asking reasonable questions that you are obviously either too stupid to understand or afraid to answer

is your god going to burn billions of people in hell forever is they have sex outside of marriage?
or get divorced?
or are gay?
or are atheist?

and how do you manage to reconcile your belief that slavery is wrong while god insists that slavery is ok?

So, you think there should be no consequences for rejecting God?

God doesn't send anyone to hell. God, so wanted to save the world from that, that he sent his only Son to stop it.

If you reject God's greatest Gift, God didn't send you to hell, you sent yourself.

Take responsibility for your actions and stop blaming God.

As for slavery. I have the same answer for you that Jesus gave the Pharisees regarding divorce.

"For the hardness of your hearts God, permitted this, but from the beginning it was not so."

Remember, the abolition movement began as a CHRISTIAN movement.

Besides, why are you worried about slavery of more than 150 years ago, if you are content to be a slave to sin, today?

If God was so for slavery, he wouldn't have sent his Son to deliver us from the worst slavery of all.

you:

"So, you think there should be no consequences for rejecting God?"

I am NOT rejecting god

I am rejecting the belief in a non-existant god.

"So, you think there should be no consequences for rejecting God?"

even if your god does he exist he should be rational and logical enough to judge each person on their own merits; was he a decent person? did he help others when he could? did he not murder or steal or rape?

a rational god would not punish decent people for the petty offense of disbelief.


you;

"If you reject God's greatest Gift, God didn't send you to hell, you sent yourself. "

that is ridiculous.
again, NOBODY deserves eternal punishment simply for disbelief.
if your god does that then your god should be sent to his own hell

why don't YOU and YOUR god take responsibility for YOUR own actions.

I am NOT sending myself to hell (whether or not there is one)

it's YOU and YOUR god who are doing it

stop blaming others for your and your gods acts
TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for YOUR OWN ACTS!


"Take responsibility for your actions and stop blaming God."

I don't blame a god that I don't believe in
I blame deranged lunatics like YOU!

lets face it...
YOU are the one who believes that anyone who doesn't believe in your god deserves to burn in hell.

that makes YOU a real sick and deranged arsehole


"Remember, the abolition movement began as a CHRISTIAN movement."

which was completely opposed by OTHER CHRISTIANS!

remember
christians in America went to war in order to preserve slavery!


and they believed tha god sanctioned slavery and could quote many biblical passages backing them up.

so
do you agree with god that slavery is ok?

or do you oppose god on this issue?

 

[rikules]

trolling?

I am not trolling

I am asking reasonable questions that you are obviously either too stupid to understand or afraid to answer

is your god going to burn billions of people in hell forever is they have sex outside of marriage?
or get divorced?
or are gay?
or are atheist?

and how do you manage to reconcile your belief that slavery is wrong while god insists that slavery is ok?

So, you think there should be no consequences for rejecting God?

God doesn't send anyone to hell. God, so wanted to save the world from that, that he sent his only Son to stop it.

If you reject God's greatest Gift, God didn't send you to hell, you sent yourself.

Take responsibility for your actions and stop blaming God.

As for slavery. I have the same answer for you that Jesus gave the Pharisees regarding divorce.

"For the hardness of your hearts God, permitted this, but from the beginning it was not so."

Remember, the abolition movement began as a CHRISTIAN movement.

Besides, why are you worried about slavery of more than 150 years ago, if you are content to be a slave to sin, today?

If God was so for slavery, he wouldn't have sent his Son to deliver us from the worst slavery of all.

Maddy has repeatedly stated a belief that God exists so you are just proving yourself to be a fuxxing bitch whiny ass troll.

a. my discussion, currently, is with you, not maddy.

b. is this how christians speak?
"so you are just proving yourself to be a fuxxing bitch whiny ass troll"


so far you are proving yourself to be an ignorant moron who can't debate in a civilzed fassion.

 

[rikules]

teapartysamurai wrote:

1. You need to define "Evil" before I can offer theories.

2. Are you asking for an explanation of evil or are you looking for a solution to evil?

Let's just begin by focusing on the first question. I would assume we can all agree that a man like Stalin or Pol Pot was Evil. But Evil is much more commonplace; we have all indulged in it.

Here's a little story of one of my Evil acts:

I am intolerant in the extreme of abuse -- of the elderly, of women, of kidlets, etc. One day I went to the grocery and saw a young woman lift her kidlet, about two, off the floor with his arm, using a twirling motion that swept his feet out from under him. You might not know -- and likely she didn't -- that this move, which usually causes no pain or injury, is a great way to tear a kidlet's rotator cuff. Such injuries can leave a kidlet permanently disabled.

So I yelled at the woman -- even though she was obviously poor, stressed out and overwhelmed. And she dropped the kidlet, so there was that. But whose needs did I serve? If I had spoken calmly and compassionately to her, she most likely would have listened. She might have learned to never do that again (as opposed to never doing it again in public). She might have felt validated, human and supported....but MY Pride came first. I was wealthy and obviously powerful, and I knew I could frighten her, so I did.

Scaring a young mom on the edge...now there's an accomplishment to be proud of, huh?

So here's my question: why is it that when God designed Mankind, he afflicted us with Pride and the other Evils we nuture in our breasts? Why didn't he fill us with enough Divinity so that we would not have these impulses to tear one another down, or apart?

By the way, teapartsamurai, I greatly appreciate your willingness to open yourself up to the dialogue. I was quite harsh to you and most would have replied angrilly and defensively; I am sorry I wasn't kinder.

I don't see a definition of Evil. What is your definition? To ask why it exists without supplying a working definition is moot.

sending decent people to hell for all eternity is evil.

 

[CurveLight]

So, you think there should be no consequences for rejecting God?

God doesn't send anyone to hell. God, so wanted to save the world from that, that he sent his only Son to stop it.

If you reject God's greatest Gift, God didn't send you to hell, you sent yourself.

Take responsibility for your actions and stop blaming God.

As for slavery. I have the same answer for you that Jesus gave the Pharisees regarding divorce.

"For the hardness of your hearts God, permitted this, but from the beginning it was not so."

Remember, the abolition movement began as a CHRISTIAN movement.

Besides, why are you worried about slavery of more than 150 years ago, if you are content to be a slave to sin, today?

If God was so for slavery, he wouldn't have sent his Son to deliver us from the worst slavery of all.

Maddy has repeatedly stated a belief that God exists so you are just proving yourself to be a fuxxing bitch whiny ass troll.

a. my discussion, currently, is with you, not maddy.

b. is this how christians speak?
"so you are just proving yourself to be a fuxxing bitch whiny ass troll"


so far you are proving yourself to be an ignorant moron who can't debate in a civilzed fassion.

You've been demanding I explain positions that are not mine you fucking crybaby. If you want to debate then do it on what I've stated and not your anemic strawmen.

As for how Christians speak....I'm confident others don't use my language and I don't give a fuck. I'm not here to kiss ass and hide behind PC terms which would inhibit me from pointing out you're an angry troll hell bent on doing nothing in this thread except for trying to control the dialogue. Want to say I'm a bad Christian? Go ahead.....I won't argue against that. What I will do is call out you fucking parasitic trolls whose main purpose is to compensate for your insecurities by attacking others. You make my soul vomit.

 

[CurveLight]

Let's just begin by focusing on the first question. I would assume we can all agree that a man like Stalin or Pol Pot was Evil. But Evil is much more commonplace; we have all indulged in it.

Here's a little story of one of my Evil acts:

I am intolerant in the extreme of abuse -- of the elderly, of women, of kidlets, etc. One day I went to the grocery and saw a young woman lift her kidlet, about two, off the floor with his arm, using a twirling motion that swept his feet out from under him. You might not know -- and likely she didn't -- that this move, which usually causes no pain or injury, is a great way to tear a kidlet's rotator cuff. Such injuries can leave a kidlet permanently disabled.

So I yelled at the woman -- even though she was obviously poor, stressed out and overwhelmed. And she dropped the kidlet, so there was that. But whose needs did I serve? If I had spoken calmly and compassionately to her, she most likely would have listened. She might have learned to never do that again (as opposed to never doing it again in public). She might have felt validated, human and supported....but MY Pride came first. I was wealthy and obviously powerful, and I knew I could frighten her, so I did.

Scaring a young mom on the edge...now there's an accomplishment to be proud of, huh?

So here's my question: why is it that when God designed Mankind, he afflicted us with Pride and the other Evils we nuture in our breasts? Why didn't he fill us with enough Divinity so that we would not have these impulses to tear one another down, or apart?

By the way, teapartsamurai, I greatly appreciate your willingness to open yourself up to the dialogue. I was quite harsh to you and most would have replied angrilly and defensively; I am sorry I wasn't kinder.

I don't see a definition of Evil. What is your definition? To ask why it exists without supplying a working definition is moot.

CurveLight, what the hell is vague here? I said that Evil is commonplace, we all indulge in it and I gave an example of an occasion when I did.

Good grief, do we really disagree about whether abusing young, poor Moms in order to self-agrandize is Evil?

You're getting frustrated because you're realizing giving a working definition of evil is not as simple as it would appear. Thus, your question of why evil exists is premature. It does no good to try and use specific acts because then evil is being defined by positions and not principles.